


Light in Shadow

by cipherfresh



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Bajor, Bajorans, Gen, Minor Violence, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26678119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cipherfresh/pseuds/cipherfresh
Summary: A vignette of the many times Deep Space Nine gets fired on.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Light in Shadow

You wonder what it's like to be a Starfleet officer. They've started almost swarming the place as soon as the Cardassians left. You're thankful Major Kira is there as a First Officer. You have doubt big-bad Starfeet will want to protect Bajoran interests. But you've been assigned to 'Deep Space Nine'- Bajorans didn't even get to name a Bajoran station. You wonder morbidly about if Starfleet would get big-headed here. They could very easily occupy Bajor, the Federation was the most powerful force in the Alpha Quadrant. 

A few weeks pass. You've been holding your breath, and you're anxious when you cross the Promenade, not allowed to hold a phaser. Oh, Prophets, you see that tailor, Garak, walking out of his shop one day, speaking sweetly to the Starfleet CMO. Cardassians invoke an instinctual response in you, and you're filled with fear for a moment. It passes. You wiped your hand down your face, feeling the ridges on your nose, and remember the days of the Occupation, where Cardassians would poke insults at your inferior biology and 'broken' face.

The day after the Cardassians left for good you were going to go through the vents to get to daily worship...when you saw other Bajorans walking through the front door of the Bajoran Temple on the station. You didn't have to hide. People walked right in. Starfleet was replicating extra candles for the room, as they were in short supply during the Occupation. Someone who you'd been thrown in jail with by two Cardassians had been a part of a wealthy artisan family, much higher in the caste than you. Things like the abolishment of the Bajoran Caste was something the Prefect of Bajor would parrot about their benefit to the planet. Many didn't even consider it an occupation, they called it some mercantile jargon, benefiting the Father Country Cardassia. 

You've only ever walked through the front door of the Temple when having to run across the Promenade during a massive explosion. Every other time, and it was secret congregation by travelling through the vents, having to worship in secret, and constant fear of being discovered. But you're walking through the front door. No fear. And you got to worship with the others, and feel unafraid.

Commander Sisko is...the Emissary? The Emmisary of the Prophets?, a human? But it seems right. As time passes, it clicks into place. You have faith in the Prophets. You've held onto the Prophets your whole life, and you'd give them up after they ended the Occupation of Bajor? They gave you life, they kept you safe during the Occupation, and you won't give up on them now.

A colossal BOOM shakes the station. You bet it's the Cardassians. You share a look of fear with the nearest Bajoran, and can tell that was no spare phaser fire. That was a warning shot. You wonder what Starfleet did to piss them off. Before you can start running down the Promenade, the warning shot is followed by more ship phaser fire. Overhanging beams of Cardassian steel falls from the ceiling, and scaffolding crashes to the ground. computers spark and catch fire. The station itself rumbles for a minute, knocking people off their feet. You duck into the shop on the side of the Promenade, and watch as other people duck and dodge Cardassian technology debris from the ceiling. The enemy ships must be doing something about the station's artificial gravity, as it's been increasing and decrasing, then it stabilizes. Metal crashes and you see a Bajoran on the Promenade get a long, thin piece of metal stab through their leg. The rumbling stops, and you run over to help them. They're pinned to the ground, but you kneel down and lift their head.  
"Take off my jacket."  
"Jacket?"  
"I'm wearing- it's a human piece of clothing, help me take it off, you can use the sleeves to tie it around my leg and stop the bleeding. "  
Your eyes scan them, and see, oh, that's what they're talking about, and help them take it off, and you move some off the other big debris off of them. Now, the metal pole hasn't pierced their whole leg through, it doesnt seem to be embedded very deep at all. Now or never. "I'm going to yank the sharpened pole out of your leg. It's going to hurt." Should you have said that? "Here, hold this in your mouth. You can bite down on it." You take the jacket sleeve and bunch it up, and they hold it in their mouth. Shaking, you walk to their other side, grip the pole, and use all of your might to take it out of their leg.  
They scream, muffled, and you toss the pole aside, and kneel back down to them. "It's alright, it's alright." You comfort.

You take the jacket sleeve and tie it around their leg as tight as you can. People all around you are moving debris and helping others, and by now Starfleet officers are running around in their stupid outfits. They hold on to you and you help them to Dr. Bashir's Infirmary, and all the beds are already taken. Medical officers swarm around, and you help your new friend down to the ground.

Sitting there, among the chaos, you're able to talk to them, as they wince and whimper in pain. You exchange names. They were given that jacket by the human Starfleet officer that rescued them from a Bajoran labor camp. They wear it to honor the Commander who went down with their team, and was killed by Cardassian guards, allowing the rest of their team to escape. They never got the officer's name. The person who saved their life is a person without a face, in a way. They're less wary of Starfleet than you, but you're starting to feel more confident that Starfleet is here in good faith.

The station gets fixed up like it always does, with more Federation technology each time. You become friends with the Bajoran you bandaged up, and you buy a jacket, as well. To remind you, every day, that there will always be a light in the shadows.


End file.
